Love, Lies and Keeping Sane
by Sparkly Daleks
Summary: Frankie comes to vitit Stella and sparks fly between her and TJ. Stella can't figure out why she feels so odd about it, so she asks the other girls for help. They, however are caught up in their own problems...
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is set in the half-term holidays after Christmas (not too familiar with British school schedules, sorry), after **_**Forever and Ever and Evie**_**. **

**From:** *stella*

**To:** Frankie

**Subject:** Chaos by the bucketload!

**Attachments:** Love, Lies and Keeping Sane

Hi Frankie!

Do you know of any holiday spots for vital organs? Because my brain really needs a break. After everything that happened these holidays you'd think I'd get a break, wouldn't you. But asdf0-y670f74rweuofhs

Sorry, I just got a bit of a fright. The wall fell down in the lounge room. Yep, Dad is still renovating, or as Mum and I call it, destroying our home.

So, what was I saying? Oh, yes. But no, my life is still full of chaos. There's the collapsing house for a start, plus there's two screaming boys tugging at my skirt because they want a go on the computer (i.e. experiment with pulling all the wires out and play 'eat the mousey!' with Peaches) and speaking of which, now a lump of ginger fur has jumped into my lap.

I can't even hear myself think above the sounds of crashing, swearing, screaming and purring, so I think I'd better go for the sake of my sanity, although that has a pretty big dent in it already, thanks to the last couple of weeks!

Miss u , but m8s 4ever !

*stella*


	2. Chapter 2

I was being squeezed to death. I didn't mind, though. Not when it was my best friend doing the squeezing.

'Stella! Stella! Stella!' she shrieked in my ear.

'Gah!' was all I managed to get out.

Finally, she released me and I was able to step back and take her in. Her cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes were sparkling. I noticed that as usual she'd decided to be optimistic about the weather, dressed in a little denim skirt and a tight pink singlet.

'You haven't changed,' I grinned.

'Neither have you!' she retorted, pulling a lock of my fuzzy-wuzzy hair good-naturedly.

'Nice to see you again, Frankie,' Mum smiled, leading the way back to the car. 'Stella's been so excited about your visit.'

'Hah! Really?' Frankie grinned, looking at me. I shrugged. I had lots of friends in Portbay now, but I always missed Frankie. She was my first friend and the one I'd known longest. Plus this time she was staying for the whole half-term hols and she could meet all my friends. I couldn't wait for her to meet everyone...

Well. To be honest, I was a bit nervous.

Frankie had been to Portbay once before and she wasn't exactly impressed. With no skyscrapers, theme parks, or Topshops in sight, it was a bit of a disappointment for London-bred Frankie, who saw the whole place as a harmless but boring dump.

Would she feel the same way about my friends? It wasn't as if I was ashamed of them – God, no – but I just really, really hoped they'd get on with Frankie...

I thought back to when I'd seen my friends this morning. We'd met down on the beach, before Amber's shift at the Shingle Cafe started. It was a brilliantly sunny day, as usual.

I made my way down the steps, greeted enthusiastically by Bob, as usual.

'Down, Bob,' sighed TJ from his position on the beach towel. He was lying on his back, listening to something very loud on his iPod. 'Hi, Stella!' How he managed to hear anything above the racket coming out of his earphones, I didn't know.

'Hi, Stell,' said Rachel, not looking up from her copy of _Bliss_. She was wearing a red bikini top and tiny denim shorts and was attracting quite a few stares. Amber, already in her work outfit, was lying next to Rachel, sharing the mag. She looked up to give me a wave.

'How's the renovating going?' asked Amber.

'Brilliantly, as usual,' I said cheerfully. Even if they couldn't see the rolling of my eyes behind my sunglasses, my mates could tell my cheerfulness was about as real as the tan on Rachel's legs.

'What happened this time?' asked Rachel in a weary tone, flipping the page.

'The usual,' I said casually. 'Plaster in our hair, a minor leak... oh hang on, one of the roof tiles fell off and smashed a couple of flowerpots in the garden last night.'

'Roof tiles?' frowned Rachel, then muttered, staring in disgust at a picture. 'That is so ugly. God, you think celebrities would have _some_ style...'

'Dad was on the roof, and he slipped,' I explained. 'He was fine, but he kicked a tile off.'

'Why was he on the roof?' frowned Amber, then to Rachel, 'It's not ugly. It's cute!'

'He was trying to fix the TV signal,' I replied, then hunkered down next to them to see this outfit for myself. 'What are you arguing about?'

'Hi, guys!'

We looked up to see Tilda, walking towards us and side-stepping various other beachgoers. Some of them (it had to be tourists – everyone else was used to her quirky style) did a double-take as they saw her striding past. With her electric purple glasses, red lipstick, black leather jacket, purple vinyl minidress and black low-rise Converse, she certainly stood out amongst the shorts-and-tees-wearing population.

'Hi,' I smiled, scooting over to make room for her.

'Thanks,' Tilda replied, plonking down between me and TJ. To his protest, she grabbed one of his earphones and stuck it in her ear. After five seconds, she pulled it out and gave it back to him, shaking her head. 'Sucks,' she declared. 'Their last album was _so_ much better.'

'Nice outfit,' said Rachel carefully. 'Very...'

'Karen O?' suggested Amber helpfully. On seeing TJ and Tilda's incredulous looks that she'd know who that was, she mumbled, 'Si likes her stuff.'

Amber glanced at her watch then and jumped to her feet.

'Eek, got to go!' she cried, jogging away from us. 'See you later!'

So me, TJ, Tilda and Rachel had hung around for a while, chatting aimlessly in the sunshine. At lunchtime we went our separate ways and then Mum and I went to the station to pick up Frankie.

Now, as I sat in the car with Frankie, I wondered how she would see them. Short, funny TJ; shy, gangly Amber; arty, gothic Tilda and confident, pretty Rachel... Would she love them as much as I did?

I sure hoped so.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Homework, writer's block, you know how it is. But now it's summer holidays, and all of a sudden the plot bunnies are bounding through the gates... Enjoy. **

'It looks amazing!' Frankie gasped, twirling around my newly-decorated bedroom.

'Thanks,' I smiled shyly. 'I had it done a few months ago.'

'Cool.' She lifted up the white, frothy curtains. 'So, when do I get to meet your new best friends?'

'They're coming around this afternoon,' I said, trying to hide my gulp of nervousness.

'Oh, OK, sweet,' Frankie said casually. Was she as nervous as I was? I could never tell. It was a rare thing to see Frankie scared, nervous or vulnerable, since she hid it all under a facade of breezy cockiness.

'Lunch, girls?' Mum called from downstairs. 'We're going to the Shingle Cafe.'

'Ah, I remember that place,' Frankie grinned cheekily. I blushed. Last time we were there Amber – before she was one of my friends – had dropped a plate of carbonara on my head. Let me just say that cream and bacon do not make good hair accessories.

We headed downstairs and then walked down to the promenade, me and Frankie nattering away.

When we got there, we sat down at a table. I studied the menu, wondering whether to get the chicken salad or the toasted cheese sandwich.

'Hi Stella! And... oh...'

I glanced up to see Amber clutching her order pad and blushing furiously at the sight of Frankie, probably remembering the last time they'd met. Too late, I remembered that she'd said that she was doing a lunchtime shift today.

There was a brief awkward silence. Mum looked puzzled. Thankfully, Frankie decided to break it.

'Hah! I remember you. You dropped the pasta on Stella's head, yeah?' Frankie nudged me. 'Remember that, Stell? You're Amber, yeah? Stella's mentioned you. The skinny ginger one.'

OK, maybe I shouldn't be thankful.

If I could have shrunk myself down until I was as small as the grains of sugar in the sugar bowl, I would have done so. As it was, all I could do was turn bright red, until even my honey-coloured hair was turning slightly pink with mortification.

That was nothing compared to Amber, though. Her face looked hot and red enough to fry an egg _and _a couple of rashers of bacon on. She covered her face with her order pad and I saw her knees knock together. She was _seriously_ embarrassed.

'I'll have a cup of tea, please, Amber, and a chicken Caesar salad,' my Mum announced. I could have kissed her right then, for breaking the silence and changing the subject.

'Sure, Mrs Stanford,' Amber said quickly, scribbling it down.

'Toasted cheese and tomato sandwich,' I squeaked. 'Please.'

'Chips and gravy,' Frankie said breezily.

Amber nodded jerkily and practically ran off.

I wanted to say something to Frankie, but I couldn't find the words and it was embarrassing with Mum there. What I wanted to say was, 'How could you be so insensitive and untactful? Poor Amber's humiliated. Apologise to her!'

But I've never been good at confrontations, especially with Frankie.

A different waitress brought our food out, thankfully. I wondered what was happening to Amber. My phone was in my pocket. Glancing down under pretence of adjusting my napkin, I typed out a quick text message: _r u ok? So so so soz about Frankie. Stella x _

Halfway through my sandwich, which I had sort of lost the appetite for, I got a text back: _Yeah, i'm ok. Not yr fault. Won't c u this afternoon – phil gave me arvo shift. Ambs xo _

I wondered if she really had been given more work, or if she was simply trying to avoid Frankie. I had a horrible feeling it was the second one.

Frankie, however, seemed unaffected, chatting away to Mum and me and asking questions that I gave sharp, short answers to. I knew I had to talk to her, but how? And when?

Just as Mum was paying at the counter, I felt my mobile vibrate again. It was from Rachel.

_Hey, what's going on? Amber sent me a txt. Sounds like yr 'friend' Frankie is a right cow. Sure u want us 2 meet her?_

'What is it?' Frankie asked, seeing me wince at something.

'Nothing,' I lied, putting my phone away. 'Nothing.'


End file.
